Report: Thousands of pipes in local nuclear plant show wear; FPL says no cause for concern

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — More than 3,700 steam generator pipes at Florida Power & Light Co.'s nuclear reactor show wear, a finding that critics say is worrisome and utility officials insist is no cause for concern because most of the wear is superficial.

Thousands of tubes that funnel radioactive water to drive steam turbines and cool the reactor are showing varying degrees of premature wear, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The number is exceptionally high and comparable to the defunct San Onofre, Calif., plant riddled with worn pipes, including one that ruptured and leaked radioactive fluid two years ago, the Times reported earlier this week.

The worn pipes were discovered in Unit 2, where FPL installed new equipment in 2007 to upgrade a three-decade-old system. The system is inspected every 18 months, and the number of tubes showing at least 20 percent wear increased between the past two inspections — from 1,228 in April 2011 to 1,920 in November 2012, the Times reported, citing Nuclear Regulatory Commission records.

The plant will be inspected again in March, at which time it will shut down for a month. Inspectors will examine the generator tubes for the first time in 18 months.

An FPL representative said the wear on most tubes is minor and poses no risk to the plant or public safety.

"St. Lucie continues to operate safely, and to say otherwise is patently untrue," said Michael Waldron, FPL spokesman for the nuclear plant. "There's a huge difference between an indication of wear and the system actually failing."

Plant crews must take out of service any tubes that are 40 percent worn, and so far they've plugged up 145 of the 18,000 tubes hooked to two generators, Waldron said. The rate of wear also is expected to slow considerably since they took measures to stop the tubes from pressing against anti-vibration bars, he added.

It's inaccurate to compare St. Lucie and San Onofre, he argued. San Onofre's system had a higher power production as well as a different manufacturer, design and problems, he said, noting the tubes rubbed against each other, causing deeper gashes.

In contrast, most of the tubes at the St. Lucie plant have little more than marks and scratches, Waldron said. He likened them to dings on a car door, which don't make the vehicle less safe to drive.

But Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear industry critic, had a different car analogy.

Making light of such a high number of worn water pipes at a nuclear plant is like driving with your brakes wearing thin and pretending nothing is wrong, Hirsch said.

"It's not a good way to run a reactor," said Hirsch, who lectures on nuclear policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Hirsch agreed there are differences between the San Onofre and St. Lucie systems, including what's causing pipes to show wear more quickly. But the magnitude is similar, and that's what really matters, Hirsch said.

Having 3,700 tubes with signs of wear would be extremely high for systems that are several decades old, let alone seven years, Hirsch said. Federal records show most systems as new as St. Lucie's Unit 2 have zero to 100 tubes with visible signs of wear, he said.

"Something very unusual is going on," Hirsch said. "To have thousands of wear indications is unusual."

He objected to verbs like "burst" and "spew," saying the tubes, at worst, would leak. All equipment linked to the reactor is closely monitored, including the tubes, and if there's any sign of trouble, the system is shut down, Waldron said.

The worst case would be reducing the unit's power output or shutting it down if too many tubes were taken out of service, Waldron said.

"When you plug up 1,800 (tubes), that's when, usually, the generator will have to be replaced," said Jim Tulenko, a University of Florida nuclear engineering professor.

Although it is unusual to have so many tubes showing signs of wear, none that are being used at the plant are worn enough to be a hazard, said Roger Hannah, spokesman at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atlanta office.

Two NRC inspectors are on-site Mondays through Fridays to ensure everything is running safely, Hannah said. That includes making sure any tubes damaged enough to possibly rupture are taken out of service, he said.

Waldron dismissed Hirsch's criticisms, saying he is a longtime anti-nuclear activist with no engineering background.

"He has no firsthand knowledge of how St. Lucie operates, nor is he an expert in nuclear operations," Waldron said. "I think we all have to consider the source."

Hirsch, however, said he didn't initiate the public critique of the plant. Officials at Southern California Edison told him the St. Lucie plant had a similar number of tube flaws as San Onofre, so he looked into it. Later, he spoke to a Florida reporter who inquired about his research.